Louisiana Bigshot (Hardcover)

by Julie Smith (Author) "Under normal circumstances, getting a Louisiana PI license is so routine as to be boring-you take a course, you pass a test, and you pay..." (more)
Key Phrases: Miz Clara, Mary Pat, New Orleans (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review
Talba Wallis, hip and happening PI, a.k.a. the Baroness Pontalba, star of the New Orleans avant garde, was first introduced in Louisiana Hotshot and returns in this deft, well-written mystery about Babalu Maya, a "healer" who wants to know if her boyfriend is cheating on her. Shortly after Talba confirms her client's suspicions, Babalu dies of a heroin overdose the police are certain is a suicide. But both Talba and Jason, Babalu's contrite and confused boyfriend, find it such an improbable scenario that he hires Talba to find out what really happened. Unraveling the mystery takes the sassy sleuth with the attitude that's bigger than she is to the small Louisiana town where Babalu was born and to the prominent, influential family that turned its back on her a long time ago. While the plot isn't much more than a routine Southern gothic, the heroine is: Talba Wallis is a lively, engaging protagonist with family secrets of her own that are revealed in a secondary plot that's much more interesting than the primary one. Smith, the author of three other series, has a real winner in this one. --Jane Adams

From Publishers Weekly
In her second outing (after 2001's well-received Louisiana Hotshot) from Edgar-winner Smith, Talba Wallis, whose day job as a newly licensed PI never interferes with her nighttime gig as the performance poet called the Baroness de Pontalba, finds herself entangled in the dirty laundry of white folks' family secrets when she sets out to prove that her friend Babalu's death was murder, not suicide and not a drug overdose. In the end, the snarl of old family skeletons, corrupt politicians and racial ugliness becomes too serpentine for its own good, and the solution to the murder is vaguely unsatisfying. Far more appealing are the strongly drawn characters. The interplay between the young black woman and her much older white boss, a man who admires her brain and her fearlessness but would never let on, is warm and respectful; Smith nicely plays it against the very real and very dangerous racial divide that Talba encounters when she investigates her friend's smalltown past. The fiercely independent Talba still lives with her no-nonsense mama, Miz Clara, who makes the best fried chicken known to man and thinks Talba's way of dressing for poetry readings makes her look like "some fool who's been to one too many rummage sales." But Talba, as her sweet schoolteacher boyfriend never fails to remind her, is every inch a baroness. She's also a fine poet, and one of the delights of the book is that Smith lets us peek inside the mind and heart of a poet at work, revealing the process as well as the result.
Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 304 pages
• Publisher: Forge Books; 1 edition (September 7, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0765300591
• ISBN-13: 978-0765300591
• Product Dimensions: 9.5 x 6.3 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #1,637,136 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars What a great, fun, exciting, hard-to-solve read, October 14, 2003

By	Patricia Tryon (Longmont, CO United States) - See all my reviews (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

This review is from: Louisiana Bigshot: A Talba Wallis Novel (Mass Market Paperback)

Young women starting out as PIs start cheap and often finish early in the mystery fiction business -- but hope that Baroness de Pontalba, a/k/a Talba Wallis will be around for many more pleasurable reads. She has more prickles than a porcupine and apparently less fear than Zeus in solving mean, bitter problems. Her personality glints like silver as she dances between personal and business tragedy; underestimate her, and you're the one playing the fool's gold.

This is a forceful, beautifully written story that, in all likelihood, will cast you as a stranger in a strange land. But you will probably not be able to put down the book and chances are you will also be unable to untangle the strands of mystery much before the final acts play out. It's probably too complex, or they would ruin the delicious ruminations of the Baroness on the other characters, but there ought to be a movie here. Just read the book. It's hard to imagine a movie subtle and strong enough to capture both dynamic action and the tension between emotion and thought.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Louisiana Bigshot, August 20, 2002

By	Angela Henry (Springfield, Ohio USA) - See all my reviews

Even the simplest of tasks seem to land Private Eye/Poet, Talba Wallis, in big trouble in Julie Smith's, LOUISIANA BIGSHOT. ... Julie Smith successfully blends mystery and social commentary as Talba faces big hurdles, due to the color of her skin, in her investigation of Babalu's death. Smith has created a complex character who uses wit, and sheer nerve, and not always successfully, to navigate herself through some tough situations. You can't help but root for Talba Wallis.

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Awesome & Unputdownable, September 16, 2002

By	Marion "[e-mail]" (Louisiana) - See all my reviews (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)

I loved this second fast-paced tale of the irrepressible, sassy, intelligent poetess-turned-detective, Baroness Pontalba. The plot had more surprising twists and turns than a Louisiana bayou country road...and keeps you guessing until the very end. It always cracks me up when Ms. Smith brings Detective extraordinairre, Skip Langdon into the story....she's the main character in her excellent Skip Langdon series. If you're just discovering Ms. Smith's writing, you're in for a delectable treat and a fabulous story. She's the best!